At U.N., Pompeo asks countries to 'pick a side' on Venezuela

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the United Nations during a Security Council meeting about the situation in Venezuela in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 26, 2019.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued several stern
warnings against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at the
United Nations Saturday.

Pompeo urged the Security Council to "pick a side" and
recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the Venezuelan head
of state.

Guaido, who took the helm of the National Assembly on
January 5, proclaimed himself interim president on Wednesday
though Maduro, who has led the oil-rich nation since 2013 and
has the support of the armed forces, has refused to stand
down.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told countries at the United
Nations on Saturday to "pick a side" on Venezuela, urging them to
back Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and calling for
free and fair elections as soon as possible.

Ad

Pompeo was addressing the 15-member U.N. Security Council, which
met at his request after Washington and a string of countries in
the region recognized Guaido as head of state and urged
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down.

"Now it is time for every other nation to pick a side ... Either
you stand with the forces of freedom, or you're in league with
Maduro and his mayhem," Pompeo told the council. "We call on all
members of the Security Council to support Venezuela's democratic
transition and interim President Guaido's role."

Guaido, who took the helm of the National Assembly on Jan. 5,
proclaimed himself interim president on Wednesday though Maduro,
who has led the oil-rich nation since 2013 and has the support of
the armed forces, has refused to stand down.

Ad

Maduro cruised to re-election in May last year amid low turnout
and allegations of vote-buying by the government. The domestic
opposition, the United States and right leaning Latin American
governments declined to recognize the result of the vote.

Under Maduro, Venezuela has sunk into turmoil with food shortages
and daily protests amid an economic and political crisis that has
sparked mass emigration and inflation that is seen rising to 10
million percent this year.

Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Belgium all said on Saturday
they would recognize Guaido as interim president unless Maduro
called fresh elections within eight days.

"Europe is giving us eight days? Where do you get that you have
the power to establish a deadline or an ultimatum to a sovereign
people," Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told the
Security Council. "It's almost childlike."

Arreaza said Maduro's government still hopes to establish
communication and dialogue with US President Donald Trump's
administration. "That offer stands," he told the council.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called the eight day
ultimatum "absurd." Moscow opposes the US efforts and has accused
Washington of backing a coup attempt, placing Venezuela at the
heart of a growing geopolitical duel.

"This is not about foreign intervention in Venezuela," former US
diplomat Elliott Abrams, who Pompeo named on Friday to lead US
efforts on Venezuela, told the council.

Russia failed in a bid to stop Saturday's Security Council
meeting. China, South Africa and Equatorial Guinea voted with
Moscow to block the meeting, while nine countries voted in favor
of the meeting. Ivory Coast and Indonesia abstained.

"We strongly condemn those who are pushing the Venezuelan society
to the edge of a bloodbath. The US are painting a picture of a
confrontation between the Maduro regime and the people of
Venezuela. This picture is far from reality," Nebenzia told the
Security Council.

Russia, China, South Africa and Equatorial Guinea also blocked a
US push for a U.N. Security Council statement expressing full
support for Venezuela's National Assembly as the country's "only
democratically elected institution."

"China does not interfere in other countries internal affairs. We
hope the country that accuses others can do likewise itself,"
said China's U.N. Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu, referring to the United
States.

The United States has signaled it was ready to step up economic
measures to try to drive Maduro from power.

Pompeo told reporters on Saturday that he hopes countries "will
ensure that they disconnect their financial systems from the
Maduro regime and allow assets that belong to the Venezuelan
people to go to the rightful governors of that state."

(Reuters reporting by Michelle Nichols. Additional reporting by
Humeyra Pamuk in Washington, Editing by William Maclean and Diane
Craft)